New York could launch first statewide version of My Brother's Keeper program

Published 10:59 pm, Friday, September 18, 2015

Albany

New York could become the first state to implement its very own My Brother's Keeper program, a federal initiative designed to improve life outcomes for young men and boys of color.

President Barack Obama announced the program last year, calling on government and private groups to provide support in the form of funding, programming and mentorship to help a population disadvantaged by generations of inequality.

The president said the goal was to keep young men and boys in school, off the streets, out of jail and in the work force. Earlier this year, he expanded the call to individual cities, towns and tribal nations to create their own programs.

New York wants to take the call to action one step further. A group of educators, scholars and policymakers are hoping to submit policy recommendations to Gov. Andrew Cuomo by the end of the year, in time for his State of the State address in January, that could lead to the first statewide program in the U.S.

"If you look at our state test data and examine over the past years — there has been some modest improvement, but we see that there continues to be an achievement gap for males of color," said Lester Young Jr., a lifelong educator from Brooklyn and an at-large member of the state Board of Regents.

The most recent state tests for grades 3 to 8 show that just 14 percent of black boys and 16 percent of Hispanic/Latino boys were proficient in English compared to 35 percent of white boys and 47 percent of Asian boys. The numbers are slightly higher for math, with 19 percent of black boys and 24 percent of Hispanic/Latino boys scoring proficient compared to 49 percent of white boys and 65 percent of Asian boys.

"One of the questions we were already grappling with, apart from this national initiative, was how do we improve outcomes for this populations?" Young said.

The Board of Regents, responsible for setting education policy for the state, formed an eight-member workgroup in May to start tackling this question. Young serves as chair. The Workgroup to Improve Outcomes for Boys and Young Men of Color has since recruited about 60 educators, school administrators, community leaders, elected officials and scholars to help.

Their first work session is scheduled for Tuesday in Brooklyn. A second all-day session will be held Nov. 9 in Rochester. The third and last session will be held around mid-December to coincide with the Board of Regents' monthly meeting in Albany. The group is also hoping to travel around the state in coming months to hear directly from young men and boys of color about challenges they face at home, in school, at work and in their communities.

A statewide My Brother's Keeper initiative would focus on six priority areas, Young said. The first would ensure equitable access to high-quality programs, schools, instruction and curriculum from pre-K all the way on up to college. The second would put in place prevention, early warning and intervention services designed to catch kids before they fall behind. A third will try to familiarize educators with the ethnic and racial makeup of their student body.

"New York is the most diverse state in the country," Young said. "We have immigrants from Somalia and war-torn countries. They're bringing their cultural experiences, and it's important for schools and personnel to understand them, because it's pretty well established that learning is best achieved when you master the bridge between what you know and what you don't know. We want to make that bridge, that transition easier."

The other three will examine structural and institutional racism, improving access to coordinated support services, and boosting parent engagement.

"As a state, we must ask, do these principles make sense for us? If the answer is yes, then our recommendations will allow them to play out across the state," he said.

The My Brother's Keeper program has been criticized for ignoring girls and young women of color — a cohort that doesn't necessarily fare any better when you look at school suspensions, test scores, graduation rates, mental health, poverty and a slew of other indicators. Some of the schools, towns and cities that have embraced the program have expanded it to include this population.

The workgroup hoping to inform New York's policy does not appear to be planning any such expansion. When asked if his group would consider expanding its policy recommendations to include young women and girls of color, Young said to consult the group's title (the Workgroup to Improve Outcomes for Boys and Young Men of Color).